Tribalfootball.com's tactics expert Connor Holden examines Liverpool's exciting draw at Manchester United on Sunday and says the key to the game was the individual quality both midfields boasted on the day.

This game provided end-to-end football (becoming a theme in Manchester United matches), offered a well-worked set-piece opener, a Kobbie Mainoo beauty, and a few tactical takeaways.

The main highlight though revolves around the midfield battle, and the ball carriers influence in this game...

SZOBOSZLAI PULLS UNITED APART

The main takeaway for me was yet again the midfield gap of Erik ten Hag's side (well covered by now). But in this game, the way Liverpool carved that space to suit their attacking pattern was by dropping Alexis Mac Allister deeper (sometimes even further than Wataru Endo) and leaving Dominik Szoboszlai in isolated spaces with Casemiro.

This image shows the two purple circles (dragging United's initial press forward) and then the space Szoboszlai could operate in (the yellow circle).

Another key point to consider is United's refusal to step forward and back up their press, having their normal man-to-man approach from the front, but their deeper reserved approach at the back (leaving this massive gap we spoke of).

This allowed Szoboszlai to play on the shoulder of Casemiro, and look to receive the ball within driving distance from goal, knowing if he could get the ball facing forward he could drive into the space, either forcing a United defender to jump out (leaving space to attack for the forwards) or to create his own space for a shot.

A side note to this point is to emphasise the importance of ball carriers against a man-to-man pressing approach.

By having players that can carry the ball across multiple zones (beating their man) it forces defending players to make decisions once that carrier has progressed.

As the carrier has now beaten his man, someone else has to jump out of position (leave their current man) to take responsibility for the ground being covered by the carrier. This obviously leaves space where the opposition defender is jumping from to pressure the carrier.

This is important, as Szoboszlai's ability to consistently get the ball on the shoulder of Casemiro and beat him (better athletically equipped at this point in his career), allowed the Liverpool midfielder to force other United players to step up, and the times they didn't, Szoboszlai was able to forge a shot on goal (going close on a few occasions).

MAINOO MORE INVOLVED IN ADVANCED AREAS

Now the other point I wanted to make derives from something I posted at halftime of this game.

I simply said “these man-to-man press approaches are calling out for the ball carriers, get Mainoo more involved in advanced areas".

The reason I wanted to touch on this was the nature of Kobbie Mainoo's goal. An excellent strike, but it all started from him being positive in midfield, driving his team forward and then being involved in advanced areas to use his quality around the box.

That progressive carry from Mainoo puts United in position for a 4v4 break (Liverpool retreat extremely well and recover their position), but Mainoo stays around the box, receives with players around him and still finds that moment of quality.

From a tactical perspective, Mainoo isn't being maximised by Erik ten Hag, he is asked to press high and leave Casemiro isolated (as we spoke about), vacating central areas that United get overrun in, and not getting him enough touches on the ball to influence the game to his best ability.

Mainoo had 36 touches, only attempted 18 passes (14 successful) and completed two of his three dribbles. For a player of his ability, and in a game that suited him for that matter (carrier from deep to progress play quickly and create overloads), he wasn't utilised enough.

CONCLUSION

To conclude this game, many have already pointed out the spaces United leave between the midfield and defensive line (even Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher went into it on commentary), but the ball carrier's ability to influence this game deserved a mention.

A draw for Liverpool at this stage of their title challenge wasn't ideal (although it's also not terrible to get Old Trafford out of the way), and United will be happy with a point, but how long can they stick with a midfield structure that gets pulled apart and exploited week-on-week?